Anna Engine Plant celebrates 25 years

ANNA, Ohio (WDTN) - Government and community leaders joined with Honda associates at Honda of America Mfg.’s engine plant July 21 to celebrate 25 years of manufacturing at Honda’s largest auto engine plant in the world.

Since starting with just 94 associates on July 22, 1985, the Anna Engine Plant has grown to become Honda’s largest automobile engine factory, with an annual capacity of 1.18 million four- and six-cylinder engines – enough to stretch from Cincinnati to Cleveland and back again. The Anna plant supplies engines to five Honda assembly plants in Ohio, Indiana and Ontario, Canada.

“This anniversary is a great opportunity for us to pause and celebrate the many accomplishments of this great team,” said Hidenobu Iwata, president and CEO Honda of America Mfg., Inc. “By working together, we have blazed a path in the industry for quality, fuel economy and environmental technologies.”

The 1.8 million-square-foot Anna Engine Plant is not only Honda’s largest auto engine plant, it is also one of the industry’s most vertically integrated engine plants. In addition to assembling engines, the plant manufactures nearly all of the steel and aluminum parts for those engines, and procures engine and drivetrain components from more than 125 suppliers located mostly in Ohio and neighboring states. The plant’s domestic purchases of parts and raw materials last year exceeded $5.2 billion – representing more than one-third of Honda’s total $13.3 billion in North American parts purchases in 2009.

With employment of 2,400 associates, the plant has produced more than 17 million engines. Cumulative capital investment in the plant exceeds $1.7 billion, including a $140 million series of expansion projects, completed in 2008, for the production of steel engine components previously sourced overseas.

Honda began business in America in 1959 and today employs more than 26,000 associates and operates 14 manufacturing facilities in North America.